The game, the player, the world: looking for a heart of gameness
Open accessAbstract
This paper attempts a definition of games. I describe the classic game model, a list of six features that are nec- essary and sufficient for something to be a game. The def- inition shows games to be transmedial: There is no sin- gle game medium, but rather a number of game media, each with their own strengths. The computer is simply the lat- est game medium to emerge. While computer games1 are therefore part of the broader area of games, they have in many cases evolved beyond the classic game model.
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This leads to different views on the things that are considered central to being a game, on different ways of including and excluding phenomena from the notion of games.
“This leads to different views on the things that are considered central to being a game, on different ways of including and excluding phenomena from the notion of games (cf. Juul, 2003, p. 39; Whitton, 2009, pp. 22-23).”
From Real-time hermeneutics: meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games (2018) · cites this paper as Juul, 2003, p. 39
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Georges, R. A., Avedon, E. M., & Sutton-Smith, B. (1975) · Western Folklore · doi:10.2307/1499097 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
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Research works printed but not linked: 9
- Bateson, Gregory. A Theory of Play and Fantasy. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1972.
- Caillois, Roger. Man, play, and games. The Free Press, Glencoe, New York, 1961 (1958)
- Chatman, Seymour. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1978.
- Goffman, Erving. Fun in Games. The Penguin Press, New York, 1972 (1961).
- Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens. The Beacon Press, Boston, 1950 (1944).
- Suits, Bernard. The Grasshopper. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1978.
- Suits, Bernard. "Tricky Triad: Games, Play, and Sport". In: Morgan, William J. & Meier, Klaus V. (eds.): Philosophic Inquiry in Sport. 2nd ed. Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, 1995.
- Wittgenstein, Ludwig: Philosophical Investiga- tions. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1958.
- Salen, Katie & Zimmerman, Eric. Rules of Play - Game Design Fundamentals. MIT Press, Cambridge, 2003. Games
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Seaborn, K., & Fels, D. I. (2015) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2014.09.006 · Cited by 2,515 · see citing works
Relationships Between Game Attributes and Learning Outcomes: Review and Research Proposals
Wilson, K. A., Bedwell, W. L., Lazzara, E. H., Salas, E., Burke, C. S., Estock, J. L., Orvis, K. L., & Conkey, C. (2009) · Simulation & Gaming · doi:10.1177/1046878108321866 · Cited by 524 · see citing works
Beyond Play: A New Approach to Games
Malaby, T. M. (2007) · Games and Culture · doi:10.1177/1555412007299434 · Cited by 434 · see citing works
Toward a Taxonomy Linking Game Attributes to Learning: An Empirical Study
Bedwell, W. L., Pavlas, D., Heyne, K., Lazzara, E. H., & Salas, E. (2012) · Simulation & Gaming · doi:10.1177/1046878112439444 · Cited by 393 · see citing works
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Playing with Trauma: Interreactivity, Empathy, and Complicity in <i>The Walking Dead</i> Video Game
Smethurst, T., & Craps, S. (2015) · Games and Culture · doi:10.1177/1555412014559306 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Playful Information Literacy: Play and information Literacy in Higher Education
Walsh, A. (2015) · Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education · doi:10.15845/noril.v7i1.223 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“An attempt to draw out this common ground and redefine games in the light of increased computer gaming is available from Juul (2003).”
BackgroundReal-time hermeneutics: meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games
Arjoranta, J. (2018) · doi:10.31237/osf.io/uep74 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
- Authors
- Juul, J.
- Corresponding author
- Juul, Jesper
- ORCID
- Juul, Jesper
- Venue
- DiGRA Digital Library
- Published
- 2003-01-01
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 2342-9666
- OpenAlex
- W1597184473
- Cited by
- 648
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 46 · 2014: 43 · 2013: 35 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 14.20
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLURAIS - Revista Multidisciplinar
- Digital Games Research Association Conference
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Artificial Intelligence in Games
- Keywords
- game media, transmediality, video games, game theory, player experience, game design
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